


Ryo Versus the Volcano

by Beltenebra



Category: Indiana Jones Series, Johnny's Entertainment, Kanjani8 (Band), NewS (Band), Tomb Raider & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Archaeology, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Supernatural Elements, Treasure Hunting, well... movie archaeology anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 02:26:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7148765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beltenebra/pseuds/Beltenebra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leech-infested rivers, booby traps, and forbidden treasure or as Ryo liked to call it: just another day at the office.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ryo Versus the Volcano

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for for je_otherworlds 2011. It _certainly wasn't_ inspired by Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, and large quantities of Jimmy Buffett.

“You're _sure_ this is the right place?” 

“Yeah, the markings in the anteroom definitely match the ones Shige showed us.” 

“Why is it that he always sends us to really grimy places?” Massu made a distressed sound as he lifted his foot to move forward and his boot made a moist sucking sound where he pried it up from the bed of mud and decomposing moss that carpeted the cavern floor. 

“What kind of archeologist _are_ you? Seriously, venturing into old, gross places is practically your entire job description.” 

Massu frowned at him. “I could have been a professor or worked for a museum like Shige. You're conveniently forgetting an entire realm of things: cleaning, reconstructing, cataloging...” Massu sniffed, “Besides, I specialized in Egyptology. It's all sand over there. Beautiful, dry sand. Brushes right off.” 

Ryo rolled his eyes, “Sand chafes. And it takes months to get it out of everything.” He didn't bother to contain his chuckle when Massu slipped and had to brace himself against one of the slimy walls. His face as he tried in vain to shake most of the muck off was pretty priceless. 

Unbeknownst to him, Massu wiped his hand off on Ryo's rucksack as soon as the shorter man turned his attention forward. 

Just a little farther and they were in the temple proper. They could hear the steady trickle of an underground stream off to one side. Feeble shafts of light from high up pierced the heavy veils of hanging moss and filtered down but their flashlights illuminated the layout of the room. Ryo noted a central altar, a rough slab of stone set around with carvings and a more elaborate set up farther in. 

The raised platform with elaborately carved panels behind it looked like their best bet. One solitary beam of light shone down on a statue that seemed to match the general description Shige had given them. Squat, round, and blobby? Check. Gold? Ryo reached out and very carefully scraped the edge of his knife along the side, noting the faint mark it left. Check. But what was it doing right there out in the open? 

Shige had said this one shouldn't be very difficult but Ryo was always suspicious of an easy job. Years of surviving ancient but deadly effective, and sometimes distressingly creative, booby traps had left him with what he considered a healthy sense of paranoia. 

“That's it, right?” Massu stepped up next to him.

“Yeah, I think so. But this seems too easy.” 

“Shige said-”

“I know what Shige said. I still think it's too easy.” 

It was Massu's turn to roll his eyes. “You are the only person I know who complains about a good day at work. As far as I can tell nothing from the carvings indicates a particularly violent mindset. If there is a trap, it should be something simple.” 

“Ok. Magic time.” Ryo grinned at his partner as he hefted a rock off of the floor that looked to be about the right size and weight. “Ready?” At Massu's nod he took a deep breath and stepped forward slowly, relishing the rush of adrenaline he got every time he did something like this. Hard or easy, it didn't matter. Plundering the secrets of lost civilizations was heady work. 

His hands were steady as he slowly slid the statue off the platform and shifted the rock into its place. Smooth as silk, he noted with pride. He and Massu exchanged a quick smile just before he heard the the tiny click, nearly inaudible in the gloom of the cavern. There wasn't even time to panic. 

“Down!” he barked and pulled Massu down with him. They flattened themselves to the floor just in time to hear the whoosh of arrows over their heads and the clatter as they landed harmlessly behind them. 

Massu turned his head, his nose centimeters from Ryo. “Feel better?” he asked with a tiny smile. 

“Much.” 

Ryo paused a few beats just to make sure that was it. He was just about to push himself back up when he caught a faint gleam of red out of the corner of his eye. 

"Hey, Massu give me a light." 

"Don't you think you should wait until we're back outside before your celebratory cigarette?"

"Your flashlight, moron. There's something else down here." 

There at the base of the pedestal there was some kind of recessed chamber, slim stone bars and in the gloom a rich flash of color. Massu peered over his shoulder and almost immediately shoved him over with his shoulder, hunkering down so they could both see. The younger man ran a careful finger over the symbols, lips pursed in thought. 

"These look pretty different from the other ones we've seen so far," Ryo remarked. 

"Yeah, definitely more sophisticated. See how much more clean the lines of the carving are... and the language is completely different," Massu agreed thoughtfully, already taking out his notebook and graphite to make a quick rubbing. "I think someone must have taken advantage of the fact that this temple was already here." 

Ryo grinned, his treasure senses were tingling. He could just catch a faint red light when he shone the flashlight at the right angle, and more sophisticated set-ups usually meant a better haul. Massu had his thinking face on, already unrolling a cloth bundle of delicate tools to fetch a brush and a small scraper. When he looked back up Ryo was brandishing his own favored tool, a ball-peen hammer. 

“Seriously, Ryo? Do you have the capacity to interact with other cultures' most sacred places without wanting to smash them to unrecognizable bits?” 

“First of all, they were trespassing here too so it's not so much dishonoring the place as returning it to its original condition. Secondly, we're still covered in slime, it's hot, and it's been _how_ many hours since breakfast?” He sat back on his heels and watched the internal debate chase itself across Massu's features. He never got tired of watching Massu squirm.

The younger man scrunched up his nose in irritation but packed his tools back up. “Fine, we'll do it your way. But let it be known that I have a bad feeling about his.” 

Ryo snorted and hefted the hammer, “That's what you said the last three times I did this.” 

“And how well did all of those times work out?” 

Some days he regretted how quickly Massu had adopted his habitual sarcasm. “We always get out, don't we? And the last time in Malaysia was fine!” 

“What part of the entire ceiling caving in registers as fine with you?!” Massu followed up his jibe with a poke to a particularly ticklish spot on Ryo's side and his surprised yelp echoed with Massu's chuckle in the gloom. 

“It wasn't the _entire_ ceiling.” He wasn't looking but he was sure Massu rolled his eyes. “Well, here goes.” He didn't have to use a lot of force: just a few well-placed taps had the stone bars crumbling away to expose the depression. Massu gave him a pointed look and Ryo illuminated the niche with his flashlight so Massu could get a better look. It had been years since the fiasco that they only referred to as 'The Beetle Incident' but Massu still absolutely refused to reach into anything without a clear visual. 

“It looks like a big red gem of some sort.” His partner's voice was slightly muffled by the rock. “I won't be able to be more specific until we get it out. Get me the smaller pry bar.” 

Ryo placed the tool in his outstretched hand and after a few minutes of tapping and scraping Massu made a triumphant sound accompanied by the quiet crumbling of rock. The younger man tugged and was bounced back on his ass with the force of pulling the gem free of its prison. Massu smiled up at him, but the small hairs on the back of Ryo's neck were raised and he looked around the quiet space. “I think we should get out of here. I have a bad feeling about this.” 

His partner's sunny smile clouded over. “Oh, now you tell me. It's all, 'smash the place up, Massu! It's totally _fine_ ' until I get your stupid rock and _then_ you're Mr. Caution?” But now there were sounds to corroborate Ryo's instincts, sounds of a group of people with boots and tools working their way down the shaft that lead to the main room. The sudden, loud grinding noise of stone against stone had Ryo whipping out his satellite phone to hail their ride. 

“Pi, get your ass in gear, we need a pick-up immediately if not sooner.” He hissed at Massu to climb up on top of the central platform and followed as Pi's radio crackled to life, the other man's voice just audible over the thump of the helicopter blades.

“Trouble, Ryo-chan?” 

Ryo hauled himself up, feet clearing the floor just as some unseen floodgate slammed open and the large chamber began to flood with water. He could hear voices raised in urgency in the tunnel. Massu raised his eyebrows but tucked the gem securely away. 

“You know, the usual.” He thanked all of the little gods for preparedness as Massu handed him the flare gun. He aimed for the triangular opening high above them and sighed with relief as the flare shot home. 

“I've got visual confirmation, be there in 90 seconds. I'll drop you a line.” 

The water gushed in around them in dark, angry eddies sweeping large stones and other debris around the chamber. They had narrowly avoided multiple fractures. Ninety seconds would probably be just enough time if he was judging the rate of the rising water accurately. They both looked over at the commotion near the entrance. There was a group of people kitted out for the same work, all boots and serious looking packs, although Ryo and Massu didn't usually travel with a compliment of armed guards. They must have gotten something really good this time. 

The group's progress was impeded by the water still flooding the room, starting now to creep up the tunnel. They would have to retreat and wait it out or risk drowning and serious injury. The kid near the front looked barely out of his teens but from the furious glint in his eyes and stubborn set of this mouth Ryo would have bet money that he was the one with the intel. 

“Time to go, Ryo.” 

He joined Massu in tracking the progress of the black, nylon rope trailing down from above. They lost no time in stepping into the foot loops and grabbing the anchor handles. Ryo pressed close, winding one arm through the loop and the other across Massu's back, under his pack. In turn Massu had a firm hold on his belt. His partner tugged the line in two sharp, deliberate movements and they were up and away, rising slowly but smoothly towards freedom. 

Ryo couldn't resist giving the kid, clearly seething while barking out orders to his team, one last cheeky grin. 

Pi welcomed them with a lazy wave as they hauled themselves up into the chopper. “Yo.” 

“Look on the bright side, at least we're not soaking wet,” Ryo pointed out in the face of Massu's pout. Massu hated wet boots with a passion but it wasn't quite enough to mollify him this time. 

“At least if we had gotten wet we might be less slimy.”

“Keep the slime off the seats,” Pi tossed back from the pilot's seat.

“Yeah but who knows what was in that water. Probably leeches.” He had added the last part just to see Massu's eyes widen in horror. 

“Why do I keep you around again?” 

“Because I get us the big bucks. And I'm hot.” 

“Ryo, we're in the jungle. Everything is hot. And right now you are covered in slime which is pretty much the polar opposite of hot.” 

He barely resisted the urge to press in close just to hear Massu shriek. “Let's call Shige.” 

A quick satellite up-link later and they had their occasional employer and his research assistant on screen. Despite the fact that he was the youngest of them, Kato Shigeaki favored tweed and looked perfectly at home behind his massive mahogany desk in his post as curator. His assistant Koyama was usually bedecked in snazzy pinstripe suits and looked like he belonged on the pages of a fashion magazine but the man did know his Asian cultures like few others.

Koyama pushed his glasses up with one graceful finger and gave them a warm smile from his perch on Shige's desk. “You guys look disgusting and pleased, it must have gone well.” 

Ryo grinned and replied 'very well' while Massu snorted and answered 'well enough' at the same time. 

Shige raised an eyebrow. “I assume you got what you went in for. Let's get it over with right up front, how much damage did you do this time?” 

Massu blinked and tried to keep his expression neutral. “The temple is only a little flooded. We think.” 

Ryo just patted his shoulder. “That temple was doomed to begin with.” 

The curator sighed gustily and rubbed his forehead in an extremely familiar expression of exasperation. “How many times do I have to ask you to please do your utmost to respect the extraction sites when you-” 

“Dooooomed, I tell you!” Ryo cut him off with a grin and the melodramatic wiggling of his fingers in the camera which set both Koyama and Massu off laughing, their chuckles echoed over the distance between them. “Anyway, you won't care that we turned the place into a primitive water park when you see this.” He retrieved the crimson gem from Massu's pack and waved it in Shige's virtual face. 

The younger man's demeanor changed immediately. His jaw dropped and he leaned leaned so far forward Ryo thought he might be attempting to push his head through the camera. “What the- Holy shit, it can't be. Ryo, dammit! Hold it still.” 

Now it was Ryo's turn to raise an eyebrow but he did as Shige instructed and the curator and Koyama both peered intensely at the screen for a few stunned moments before exploding in to a fast-paced flurry of half-formed sentences and conjectures. 

“-thought it was just a myth-”

“-you don't think it actually, I mean, just turns up-”

“-in the middle of nowhere, right? All of the prophecies say-”

“-matches the descriptions perfectly-”

Koyama and Shige were well known for being able to converse in a way that left most people hopelessly lost, still trying to piece together a single sentence while they were already off on another conversational tangent. 

Ryo was used to it but that didn't mean he had to like it. “Oi!” Both Shige and Koyama stopped babbling at each other and turned back to the screen. “Earth-speak, please. What do you think this might be, other than a very large, hopefully extremely valuable gem of some sort?” 

Shige launched himself out of his chair and off in the direction of the book shelves. Koyama took pity on them: “We think there is a chance it might be the Eye of Argon.” 

Ryo was relieved that the name didn't spark any more recognition in Massu than in him, which was to say none. 

“It's a mythical artifact of immense magical power. It's written that entire civilizations have been raised up and destroyed by its influence alone. Stories of it have been scattered throughout literature from dozens of cultures spanning hundreds of years but it has long since been thought of to be a completely fabricated myth. A kind of Holy Grail, if you will.” 

“But Koyama,” Massu replied gently, “the Holy Grail exists.” 

The other man snorted, “Says you.” 

Massu opened his mouth to retort but thankfully they were saved from yet another iteration of Massu and Koyama's favorite pet debate by Shige's return. He thunked several large books and a small mountain of scrolls down on the desk. “I would say get back as fast and you can, but there isn't enough time. We'll meet you half-way in Phnom Penh. And for the love of all that's holy don't tell anyone about this. That means you too, Yamashita!” 

“Huh?!” 

“You know he can barely hear through those headphones even when he's not blasting his music.” Ryo demonstrated by reaching back to pull the earpiece away from Yamapi's left ear and flooding the cabin with Jimmy Buffet.

“Well anyway, don't do anything stupid. You know, more so than usual. We'll rendezvous tomorrow.” 

Shige looked pretty tense, in the background Koyama's careful, white-gloved hands could be seen packing books and papers into bags as quickly as he could. 

“We'll do our best,” Massu assured them before the screen blipped to black. 

Ryo looked over at his partner, “So... we completed the job and we're not dead but we may be toting around an artifact of unrivaled arcane power which other people seem to know about, and, if that other team was any indication, might try to bodily injure us to get a hold of. ” 

“Seems like it.” 

The cabin thrummed with whir of the propellers as they came in for a landing and echoed with Pi's only slightly off-key rendition of “Cheeseburger in Paradise”. 

“Time for a shower?” 

“Oh please god, yes.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

After thorough showers followed by a long bath in which Ryo enjoyed all of the benefits of Massu's contented compliance, they lay sprawled out on the couch in their suite, still in fluffy white robes, legs tangled together, not yet willing to relinquish the comfort of body heat.

Massu ran gentle fingers through the damp strands of Ryo's hair and contemplated the hotel safe where they had stashed the nondescript pouch containing the gem when they arrived. “Do you believe in magic, Ryo-chan?” 

Ryo hummed thoughtfully against Massu's neck. “I know there are things that I can't explain. I also know that belief can make things seem powerful. Who can say if that thing is actually magical or if its powers are merely a figment of people who want it to be? It could just be a really valuable chunk of rock. But then money is its own magic in a way.” 

He could feel Massu's chuckle rumble against his chest and the edge of Massu's smile where his lips curved briefly against Ryo's forehead. “I love it when you let your philosophical side show.” 

“I try not to do it often. It's generally better if most people don't know exactly how brilliant I am.” 

Massu surely would have had some kind of come back; years of exposure to Ryo had made him increasingly snarky, but whatever he might have said was lost in a rather loud crash followed by a brief scuffle in the room next door where Pi had been sleeping. 

They scrambled to their feet as the adjoining door was flung open with a bang and Pi strode in dragging the kid from the temple in by the collar. “I caught him trying to crack the safe in my room.” 

Up close he was pretty and slim but probably deceptively muscled. He probably had a lovely smile when he needed to. At the moment he was twisting uselessly in Pi's grip, hissing curses and practically spitting mad. He reminded Ryo of an angry kitten. “What, you thought he wouldn't wake up while you broke into his safe. Which is empty, by the way.” 

“I know it's empty, you moron. I was planning to drill through the wall into the back of yours. I could take the artifact and be gone before you ever knew it had been disturbed at all. And of course I didn't just expect him to sleep. I _drugged_ him. I was supposed to have hours.” 

His indignant glare was met with laughter all around. “What?!” 

“Should have done your research kid. Yamapi is strangely insusceptible to the effects of sedatives. Makes him a sure bet in a drinking contest. Can't tell you how many times that has gotten us out of trouble.” 

Massu just nodded, “He'll tell you it's because he's built up a tolerance.” 

“By doing what,” the kid asked with wide, disbelieving eyes, “drinking horse tranquilizers?!” 

Yamapi just smiled enigmatically. Ryo didn't get to ask the kid any pertinent questions before yet another door was opened in a dramatic entrance. Koyama and Shige strode in crowding the doorway with their bags and folios. 

Ryo made a low, irritated noise. “Come right on in, guys. It's not like we're practically naked or anything.” 

Koyama shot him a speculative look, “Since when have you ever minded being naked?” 

“ _I_ mind,” Massu shot back, pulling his robe in a little tighter. “Close the door, at least. Aren't we on information lock down here?” 

“Yes, we are.” Shige's voice was icy as he noticed the new face in the room, “Who is he and what is he doing here?” 

Koyama's eyes went wide with recognition. “He's a thief.” 

Massu nodded. “Good guess, Kei-chan. We caught him trying to crack the safe.” 

“No, I know him! He's a jewel thief. Kamenashi was doing a whole investigation into him last year, everyone said he had designs on the new additions to the Imperial collection.” 

The kid smiled and damned if it wasn't charming after all. “Please give Kame-chan my best. The name is Tegoshi Yuya and I am indeed one of the world's foremost jewel thieves.” 

Koyama narrowed his eyes in speculation, “You scrapped the job in Tokyo. Kame said you just dropped off the radar. ” 

“Because I found a better offer. Tell him he can lay off the antacids for a while. Now if you gentlemen will excuse me, it is clear that I have been bested today. I would like to retreat and reformulate my strategy.” 

For a room full of intelligent men, they were awfully good at dumbstruck expressions. The kid's brash confidence in the face of defeat was really astounding. Shige was the first to speak. “What makes you think we're just going to let you waltz out of here?” 

He got a wide smile in return, Ryo swore the kid's teeth sparkled. “Oh, just a hunch.” He moved too quickly for Ryo to get a really good handle on what happened. It looked something like bringing the sharp edge of his boot down on Pi's unshod instep and using the momentum of his elbow in Pi's stomach to launch himself at the window. 

Massu grabbed for him but his close-wrapped clothing allowed him to slip Massu's grip and he flashed them all a cheerful grin and a little wave before he squared his shoulder and dived through the window. 

Ryo couldn't quite believe that had just happened. “The hell?! Does he think he's James Bond or something?” 

“We're on the sixteenth floor!” Koyama yelped and they all rushed over to the window to see some kind of rope shoot back up and anchor to the facade just in time for the slim, black-clad figure to repel down to safety and melt into the evening crowd. 

“Damn,” Pi whistled low and impressed. “Maybe he is James Bond.” 

"Well, now what," Ryo asked, irritation clear in his voice. 

"Now, we ignore the thief for the time being," Shige returned matter-of-factly, already clearing their gear off the table so Koyama could spread a scroll out. "We still have the Eye and much bigger fish to fry." 

"I found several documents that refer to a companion piece to the Eye. Something that acts like a key or a start button. Apparently you need it to unlock the artifact's powers." 

"Which are what again," Massu asked. 

"Oh, you know... invincibility, untold wealth, ultimate power over the elements. The standard deity on Earth package," Shige rattled off with a wave of his hand, not even looking up from the faded spidery scrawl of text. 

Koyama help up a hand just as Ryo was opening his mouth. "Before you ask, yes I think I have figured out how to find the key. Well, sort of. I know where we need to go."

~*~*~*~*~*~

“You know, Shige, when I said a few weeks ago that I needed a beach vacation this really wasn't what I had in mind.”

Massu shot him an eloquent look of agreement from his perch on the rim of the pit Ryo was currently languishing in, doing his level best not to move. 

“This is totally cool, Ryo-chan! I mean, who uses quick sand anymore. Quick sand is _old school_.” 

“Thank you for your ever-helpful input, Pi. Maybe when they get me out of here you'd like to take a turn. You may not get another chance.” Ryo just wished his boots were as dry as his tone. He couldn't even wiggle his toes. 

“I hear it's supposed to be really good for your skin...” 

“No one else is jumping in the quicksand today,” Shige cut in quickly. 

“He didn't exactly jump in, Shige.” Ryo smiled, at least Massu was sticking up for him. 

“Yeah, it was all 'just a little more to the left, Ryo-chan!'” 

He couldn't turn his head far enough from where he was but he could feel Koyama fretting. “I'm sorry, Ryo. But you really did get the Eye in the perfect position. If that helps.” 

“Tons.”

Shige just gave him a look, one of his 'you are really not helping the situation at hand looks' but he was also tossing a nice, secure looking harness down so Ryo forgave him. “Ok, Nishikido, on my count lift your arms and hold on. We may only have one shot at this.” 

Ryo may have spent an inordinate amount of time poking fun at Pi's muscled torso (almost the same amount he spent appreciating Massu's) but he was glad for it when he was dragged up and out of the clinging muck. 

“Just in time too, Ryo. Look!” Their eyes all followed Koyama's finger. The late afternoon sun had shifted just enough to strike the surface of the Eye which Ryo had slotted into a nearly invisible niche in a nearly impossible-to-reach carved crevice in the rim of the damned pit trap. A beam of red shot up to the ceiling of the seaside cavern they were crowded into, the light vivid in the cloud of lazily dancing dust motes. It hit the domed ceiling and fractured, creating a glowing picture, thin crimson lines glimmering like magic. Ryo could appreciate it perfectly from his position on his back where he had flopped after he cleared the pit. It almost made the quicksand worth it. 

Koyama was racing the sun, getting all of the lines down on paper before the light shifted and they disappeared. The rest of them just stared in wonder. 

Massu's fingers were twined tight with Ryo's, his voice was tinged with an amazement he usually reserved for boutique close-out sales. “I thought magic treasure maps only happened in bogus archeology movies.” 

“See, this is why I lured you out into the field. But yeah, this is pretty unusual.” 

Seconds later Koyama cut into their reverie. “Well, guys. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the other piece is on this island not too far from here.” 

They wouldn't have to hop back in the sea plane currently tied up in the inlet and fly off to another tiny, hot, humid country on this tropical scavenger hunt. That _was_ good news. 

“The bad news is that it's up near the rim of what is very likely to be that active volcano we saw coming in.” 

The rest of them, in a rare display of group empathy, heaved gusty, perfectly synchronized sighs. Ryo especially wasn't looking forward to the trek up the slope in his crud encrusted clothes. He had just enough time to wish they had access to a plane big enough to bring a Humvee when they trooped out of the cave and into a clearing holding three large, heavy-duty Jeeps full of heavily-armed, scowling men and one smiling jewel thief. He wondered if the damned gem was reading his mind and trying to give him what he wanted. He wasn't sure he appreciated its sense of humor. 

Tegoshi ushered them into the vehicles with the grace of a prince at a state reception, helpfully liberating them of the gem and commandeering Koyama and his rudimentary map to ride in the lead vehicle. The taller man was remarkably well-composed for having a gun trained on him. He was certainly doing better than Shige, who looked like he was trying to scowl something to death. 

Massu was squeezed in next to Ryo, both of them caught between very large, square-jawed men and their automatic weapons. He wasn't sure if they spoke Japanese but at this point he didn't really care. The guns were troubling but for some reason he felt something akin to calm. Maybe this is what it feels like when you come out the other side of panic. 

“For the record, I'm sorry. I should have just left the damned thing well enough alone.” 

Massu turned his head just enough to nuzzle his shoulder lightly. “Nah, neither of us would have been ok with that. Besides, when these meatheads get what they want, maybe they'll let us go.” 

His partner's optimism tended to shine through most when things were at their absolute worst. It never failed to make Ryo wonder just how it was that Massu had actually survived this long, always betting on the longest odds with no evidence that things would work out. But here he was. 

“Here we are!” Tegoshi's cheerful call brought their little cavalcade to a halt. 

Yep. It sure was the rim of a volcano. The men with guns urged them out of the cars and into roughly single file when Koyama squinted at the map and pointed at a goat-track of a path that led further into the jungle. 

After a few minutes of stumbling through some lush vegetation and being treated to some views that Ryo would have been much happier to appreciate from the safety of a chopper instead of 'plunging to one's violent, fiery doom at the slightest misstep' range, they entered a small clearing and what seemed to be a small, perfectly preserved temple perched on the lip of the volcano. 

Shige begrudgingly handed over the Eye. “But we don't know the next step. We can't tell you how to find the key.” 

“Oh, I have no doubt that between the-” Tegoshi's gaze slid over them, over to Pi and back to Massu, “the four of you, you'd have figured it out. Fortunately, you don't need to. I've got it covered!” The kid whipped out a very old looking roll of parchment that had both Koyama and Shige stepping forward unconsciously for a closer look before they were yanked back by the guards. “I found this first, I really just needed you all to get me here.” 

And this is where they would all die, Ryo was sure of it. But Tegoshi didn't give the order, just peered intently at the scroll and examined a carved mural that to the best of Ryo's knowledge depicted the Sun coming to Earth and bestowing ultimate power on some guy. Or disemboweling him, it was a little hard to tell from this angle. Either way it didn't look like a particularly enjoyable process. 

Tegoshi's eyes lit up with understanding and he pressed the Eye into a depression in the design and twisted the setting a few times in a complex series of turns, rather like opening a safe. The kid seemed to feel right at home on this job despite the abundance of ruins and lack of cutting edge security systems. 

Right on cue, a heartbeat after Tegoshi stopped fiddling and stepped back, a stone panel slid open with the familiar grinding sound of stone on stone revealing an intricate frame of some kind. It like it was carved from some kind of dark glass, maybe obsidian. It seemed to suck all light into its surface. 

“I've never seen anything like _that_ before.” Massu's soft murmur confirmed his suspicions. Whatever this was, it felt dangerous. The air in the clearing was suddenly charged with tension and was that a shadow that just crossed the sun? Ryo looked up into the cloudless blue sky and thought that this might be the time they wouldn't make a daring escape after all. 

Tegoshi raised the Eye and the key, perfectly framed by the smoke wafting dramatically from the pit behind him. Ryo held his breath, they all did. The kid caught his eye and winked. Ryo just blinked back at him. 

“This is the point where you should probably start running,” Tegoshi said, his voice perfectly calm and before Ryo could figure out who he was talking to he turned and hurled the dark glass into the fiery maw of the volcano. 

It took the men with guns a few seconds to catch on to exactly what had happened but by that time Tegoshi had grabbed Ryo and Massu's arms and was most of the way to the closest Jeep. Pi shoved Koyama and Shige in right behind them, most of them landing in a tumble in the back while Pi swung himself gracefully into the driver's seat. He gunned the engines and wrenched the car around as the volcano rumbled ominously. 

The ride down was hair-raising, what with the armed pursuit and the small matter of the volcano rumbling, threatening to blow them all sky high. Aside from Pi who was cool as a cucumber, maneuvering them down the shuddering mountain, they were all pretty much clutched together screaming indiscriminately. But damned if Ryo couldn't get the grin off his face. 

They hit the beach seconds before the guys with guns, and scrambled through the shallows and into the plane just as the first few rounds grazed the hull. They wheeled around and were off with the wind in their hair just in time to see the first bright torrents of liquid fire cascade down the mountain, racing toward the sea. 

Shige had apparently gotten enough of his breath back to regain some semblance of his smart-ass self. “He totally one-upped you, Nishikido,” he nodded at Tegoshi with a smirk. “You only leave ruined temples in your wake. I think he may have just demolished an entire island.” 

“It was a small island,” he bit back but he still raised his hand to tap his knuckles to Tegoshi's with a small grin.

Yamapi punched up the music making them all groan as the strains of “Volcano” filled the cabin. 

“Seriously though, Tegoshi-kun, what was all of that about?” Koyama had apparently decided that a near death experience was enough to grant the kid familiar address. 

“Eh. I only took that job because the idea of treasure hunting was compelling. But in the end I would just have been handing over some potentially omnipotent artifact over to a corrupt rich dude for an obscene amount of money. That's not very interesting. You guys are _definitely_ interesting.” His smile glinted like the flash of the sun on the sea. Ryo resisted the urge to grab his shades. 

The kid's grin slid into something a little warmer and he raised his eyebrows speculatively at Massu who blushed under his habitual tan. Ryo growled and threw an arm around Massu's shoulders. “Don't even _think_ about it.” 

Tegoshi just laughed and held out a cloth-wrapped object. “Here, peace offering.” It was the Eye. The Eye without the key, rendering it a very large, extremely valuable gem. The kid just winked at him before turning his grin onto Koyama and Shige who both regarded him with a kind of dazed fascination. 

Ryo decided that he liked the kid after all. He suspected they could get up to some truly destructive mischief together. And the kid knew his treasure. 

“Pi! Take us somewhere we we can get hot showers and obscene quantities of fruity rum drinks!” Ryo bellowed the order but he didn't know if the pilot heard him over the music and the engines. Knowing Pi they were already headed somewhere suitable. 

He smiled at Massu and when he got one of Massu's smiles in return let himself relax into the solid warmth of his partner's side, already tuning out the background chatter of KoyaShige and now Tegoshi. This would definitely be the adventure to beat for a while. Life was good, he was even enjoying Pi's loud accompaniment.

“I don't know, I don't know, well I don't know where I'm a gonna go when the volcano blows...”


End file.
